Saturday 29 November 2008

Don't startle the Witch!!

I just spent a couple of hours playing through the first part of Left 4 Dead, No Mercy. What a fantastic game! I highly recommend this game to anyone who has ever watched and enjoyed a zombie flick, including Shaun of the Dead.

In fact, any kind of horror movie where suspense is high on the agenda. I love the quiet moments in this, in fact in many ways they are the scariest as you are just tensing up, WAITING for something to happen.

When all hell breaks loose (excuse the pun) it's hard to maintain your composure and you find yourself yelling and flailing away with your gun hammering the "push away" button and the trigger alternately, trying to create a bit of space for yourself and trying to keep an eye on team mates.

Brilliant game.

Wednesday 19 November 2008

NXE is here!

Have just finished installing NXE on my 360 and flicking around the menus a bit. I've made my avatar and FIFA 09 is currently installing to the hard drive.

My Avatar!

Sunday 16 November 2008

120 Gb drive is GO!

Got my 120 Gb drive installed and ready for Wednesday. It was a bit of a nightmare though...

I decided to trade in a bunch of games at CEX to purchase one of their pre-owned 120 Gb drives. They come with 12 months warranty, so I figured that was as good as a brand new drive. I checked the website and noticed that Bedford had one in stock and was within striking distance of me so planned to get it from there. I originally planned to trade in enough stuff to get a memory card, back up my saves and then trade in my 20 Gb drive towards the cost of the 120 Gb drive. However I quickly realised that it would be easier to get a transfer cable and drive and then trade/sell my drive later.

I purchased a cable from the CEX website (£3) but then discovered that Bedford had sold their only 120 Gb drive. CEX had plenty to sell on their website so I decided to post off my trades to get credit against purchases from the website... or so I thought!! I duly packaged up my games and posted them off (which cost me £6-odd) and waited for confirmation from CEX. Checked my account at the CEX website after a couple and they had received and tested all the games and were happy. This was where I realised that rather than crediting any on-line account and allowing me to purchase with that credit, they were in fact posting me a credit note! If I wanted to use this against the website I had to place an order with a credit card and then contact them to tell them I was sending a credit note and then post them the credit note by recorded delivery!!!

Realising what a total faff that would be I checked the website again hoping that either Bedford or Luton would get some 120 Gb drives in stock. No such luck, but I did notice that Watford apparently had several. As I can get free train travel on certain routes I decided to jump on a train down to Watford Junction with my credit note, which I did yesterday. I arrived nearly an hour before the store opened but busied myself in the local shops.

When I (finally) got into the store I realised why some people are so reluctant to use CEX! The Luton store is quite bright and clean, the Bedford one a bit less so, but still not too bad. This, however, was a dingy, grimy, poorly lit hell-hole! I wanted to get in and get out intact and fortunately I did, with my new 120 Gb drive. Got myself home and hooked up the transfer cable and about an hour later all was good.

Looking forward to Wednesday and installing FIFA 09, Gears of War, Halo 3, etc.

Friday 14 November 2008

360 Repairs!

No, fortunately I have NOT been struck down by the dreaded RROD, but there is a chance that some day I may be. That's why I am taking the opportunity to bookmark this handy X-Clamp removal/replacement/repair guide.

I hope I never have to use it...

Sunday 9 November 2008

Left 4 Dead

I got hold of a demo for Left 4 Dead for the 360 late Friday night and it is utterly awesome! I spent a bit of time agonising over whether to go for the 360 version (£30) or the PC version (£20) and eventually settled on the PC version and ordered it from Amazon. Really looking forward to it, just have to convince Player Two to get a copy too so we can fight the zombie horde in co-op!

Player Boy has shown a sudden interest in FIFA! I think this was prompted by us playing on a 360 demo pod in HMV which was running Pro Evo Soccer 2009 while we were away on our hols. It's prompted me to order a copy of FIFA 09 for the Wii, which will have simpler controls and more family-friendly features in comparison to the 360 version.

Thursday 6 November 2008

They're coming!!!!

Left 4 Dead has been on my radar for quite a while, but has just shot from very interested to must have and will be top of my Xmas wish-list from now on!

The reason for this? This movie:



Now, while that's not actual gameplay footage, it's got me SO excited to play the game. I just have to decide now on whether to go for the PC version or the 360 version...

Wednesday 5 November 2008

FIFA 09 Goal

I've scored many, many, many, many goals already on FIFA 09 on my 360. Here is just one of them...






NXE

It's less than two weeks until November 19th and the arrival of NXE, the new 360 dashboard software. I have to say it really is pretty amazing that a console that is already well into it's life-span is receiving such a major overhaul to it's software. Yes, a lot of it is cosmetic stuff and/or ripped off from elsewhere, but it's still interesting and fun.

One of the major new features is the option to install games to the hard drive, which will slightly speed up load times and keep the noise down at the same time. Fantastic! However, with the average install being around 6 Gb, having plenty of hard drive space is more important than ever!

Which is why I wanted to upgrade to a 120 Gb drive. I did post here about a DIY upgrade, but have decided instead to get a pre-owned drive from CEX. I've used the "Sell to CEX" feature on their website to trade a number of games which exactly totals the £65 it costs to buy a pre-owned 120 Gb drive from them. I've also ordered the drive transfer kit (£3) from them so once I am finished I will have a spare 20 Gb drive to sell or trade.

With the proceeds from the sale/trade I have an eye on Assassin's Creed for my 360...